by Daniel Youngblood

DISTRICT 2-5A DI WEEK 3 REPORT: Abilene High comes up short against Permian in 2-6 week for district

Odessa Permian 41, Abilene High 29 — The Eagles rallied from a 34-20 fourth-quarter deficit to pull within 34-29 with 3:19 to play, but Kayden Vickers hit Zephaniah Deleon with a 13-yard touchdown pass with 2:01 remaining to lift the Panthers to a hard-fought victory.

AHS, which turned the ball over on downs twice inside the Permian 25-yard line in the second half, was outgained just 426-407, getting big days from quarterback Tristan Beal (15-26-0—269, 4 TDs) and receiver John Rangel (9-204, 2 TDs). But the Eagles (1-2) fell behind 14-0 early in the second quarter and were forced to play catch-up the rest of the way.

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by Daniel Youngblood

DISTRICT 2-5A DII WEEK 3 REPORT: Cooper, Wylie pick up wins to highlight 4-3 week for league

Cooper 28, San Angelo Central 21 — Jamarion Dunson’s second rushing touchdown run of the second half broke a 21-all tie with just over two minutes remaining, serving as the winning points for the Cougars in a come-from-behind win over the Bobcats.

Cooper trailed at 7-0, 14-7 and 21-14 in the first half, before shutting Central out in the second half. The Bobcats had an opportunity to tie or take the lead in the final minutes, thanks to a long kickoff return that set them up inside the Cooper 30, but an incomplete pass on a fourth-down play allowed the Coogs (1-2) to celebrate their first victory of the season.

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by Daniel Youngblood

DISTRICT 7-2A DI WEEK 3 REPORT: Bangs, Mason and Coleman victorious in 3-3 week for district

Bangs 51, Cross Plains 12 — Ryder Duncan passed for 195 yards and three touchdowns and added a fourth TD rushing to lead the Dragons to a blowout win over the Buffaloes.

Connor Bible just missed 100 yards rushing, finishing with 98 and a score on 15 carries, while Jayton Byler was Bangs’ leading receiver with two catches for 59 yards and a TD.

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by Daniel Youngblood

DISTRICT 4-2A DI WEEK 3 REPORT: Forsan rolls through Stanton; C-City, Ballinger suffer first losses

Forsan 48, Stanton 22 — Forsan rode an efficient offensive performance and a stellar special teams effort to a comfortable win over Stanton.

FHS (3-0) scored touchdowns on a kickoff return (54 yards by Korbett Worden), a punt return (75 yards by Cole Wyatt) and a fake field goal (33-yard double pass from Owen Bishop to Wyatt) while also getting 134 yards and three touchdowns on the ground, led by Worden with 98 yards and two scores.

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by Daniel Youngblood

DISTRICT 5-3A DII WEEK 3 REPORT: Hamilton, Tolar, Dublin and Eastland all pick up first wins

Hamilton 34, Brady 17 — A 21-point second quarter turned the tide for HHS in a 17-point win over the Brady in this battle of Bulldogs.

Trailing 3-0 after a quarter, Hamilton (1-2) rallied to take a 21-10 lead into halftime. Brady then scored the only touchdown of the third quarter to pull within four points, before HHS closed things out with 13 unanswered points in the fourth.

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by Evan Ren

DISTRICT 3-2A DII WEEK 3 REPORT: Roscoe falls to Munday; Tahoka and Lockney score wins

Munday 28, Roscoe 6 — The Moguls are officially off to one of their best starts in years at 3-0 and will face area rival Hamlin (2-1) next Friday in one of the area’s better matchups. 

Roscoe has slipped to 0-3.  

The Plowboys will attempt to break into the win column next Friday at Santo (2-1).

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by Daniel Youngblood

DISTRICT 3-3A DII WEEK 3 REPORT: Coahoma takes down Kermit; Stanton falls to Forsan during 1-5 week for league

Coahoma 34, Kermit 20 — Aiden Rodriguez ran for 192 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Bulldogs to a two touchdown win over the Yellow Jackets. 

Masen Pierce added 62 yards and a TD rushing on just three attempts, while Austin Joslin passed for 152 yards and a score, hitting Lanson Moore six times for 74 yards and that TD.

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by Daniel Youngblood

DISTRICT 3-3A DI WEEK 3 REPORT: Wall, Early, Ingram Moore stay unbeaten; Llano loses first game

Wall 49, Jim Ned 13 — Gunner King passed for 312 yards and two touchdowns, and Gunner Garza ran for 78 yards and three scores and added a 65-yard reception to lead the Hawks to a thorough win over the Indians.

Hudson Surber also contributed to the win, catching six passes for 140 yards and two TDs, as fifth-ranked Wall (3-0)  raced out to a 28-13 halftime lead before shutting Jim Ned out in the second half.

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by Daniel Youngblood

DISTRICT 4-4A DII WEEK 3 REPORT: Mineral Wells, Graham stay unbeaten; Brock cruises past Midland Christian

Mineral Wells 41, Andrews 7 — Jordan Johnson ran for 146 yards and three touchdowns, and Javon Johnson passed for 193 yards and a score to fuel the Rams to blowout win over the Mustangs.

Mineral Wells, which improve to 3-0 with the win, ran for 302 of its 494 yards, also getting a big rushing day from Aleck Gonzales (14-111, 1 TD), while Barron Burkhall received for 123 yards and a score.

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by Daniel Youngblood

DISTRICT 2-4A DII WEEK 3 REPORT: Big Spring, Snyder fall again as league goes 2-4

Sweetwater 42, Big Spring 21 — The Mustangs were too much for the Steers, increasing a 28-7 halftime lead to 35 points in the fourth quarter before settling for a three-touchdown win.

Big Spring, which fell to 0-3, ran for just 23 yards in the loss, getting a team high 30 yards and one TD from Jaylen Cooper. Javon Jackson added 141 yards and two TDs through the air — both to Jaydan Thomas, who caught 10 passes for 136 yards.

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by Evan Ren

DISTRICT 7-2A DII WEEK 3 REPORT: Goldthwaite, Hamlin both notch wins

Goldthwaite 35, San Saba 17 — The Armadillos came to play against their heavily favored archrivals and held a 10-7 lead after one quarter. 

But after Goldthwaite took command with a pair of second-quarter touchdowns, the Eagles maintained the upper hand for the rest of the evening. 

Goldthwaite improved to 3-0; San Saba fell to 1-2. 

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME REPORT: Cooper spoils San Angelo Central’s homecoming with thrilling 28-21 win

SAN ANGELO — The Cooper football team rallied past San Angelo Central for a thrilling 28-21 win Friday at San Angelo Stadium, earning Scott Stewart his first win as a head coach in the process.

The Cougars overcame first-half deficits of 7-0, 14-7 and 21-14 in the victory, outscoring the Bobcats 14-0 over the final two quarters to improve to 1-2.

Cooper, which had outgained each of its first two opponents handily in one-score losses, was outpaced 402 yards to 347 on Friday. But the Coogs defense buckled down when it needed to most, helping facilitate the win with a second-half shutout.

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME REPORT: Wylie holds off late rally to down Wolfforth Frenship 28-21

Photos by Mark Rogers, HubCityPreps.com

WOLFFORTH — The Wylie football team dominated Wolfforth Frenship for 3½ quarters Friday, but a late Tiger rally left the Bulldogs holding on for dear life in the closing minutes of a 28-21 victory.

Trailing 28-0 entering the fourth quarter, Frenship scored three touchdowns in the final four minutes to pull within seven before WHS was finally able to close out the win to improve to 2-1.

Wylie lost the turnover battle 3-1 and gave up an onside kick return that allowed the Tigers to score two touchdowns in the span of 19 seconds. But huge days from quarterback Jadin Karleskint (25-21-1—327, 3 TDs passing) and receiver Blaze Ruffin (6-123, 3 TDs receiving) provided the Bulldogs with a big enough cushion to hang on for their second consecutive victory.

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME STORY: Odessa Permian scores late to hold off feisty Abilene High squad 41-29

Abilene High never led in a 41-29 loss to Odessa Permian on Friday at Shotwell Stadium. But the Eagles also never went away despite falling behind by two scores on five occasions — the first at 14-0 just seconds into the second quarter.

After the game, it was the latter fact that had AHS coach Mike Fullen feeling pretty good about his team as it prepares for an open date next week and the start of District 2-5A Division I play in Week 5.

Despite holding a lead from the 6:17 mark of the first quarter onward and extending a 24-13 halftime advantage to 34-20 on a touchdown with just under 10 minutes to play, the Panthers couldn’t put the Eagles away until the game’s final minutes, when Kayden Vickers hit Zephaniah Deleon behind the Warbirds defense for a 13-yard touchdown pass on a critical third-and-10 play.

Before that, AHS had used a safety and a 53-yard scoring pass from Tristan Beal to John Rangel to pull within five points (34-29), putting late-game pressure on a Permian squad that hasn’t felt much during a 3-0 start.

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by Mike Lee, Special to Big Country Preps

GAME STORY: Unbeaten De Leon passes major test, beating No. 6 Albany 42-7

DE LEON — The general thinking was we’d find out how good a football team the unbeaten De Leon Bearcats were when they played the tradition-rich Albany Lions on Friday night.

This just in. The Bearcats are good. Really good.

Lane Couch rushed for 215 yards and three touchdowns, quarterback Hud Price passed for two TDs, and De Leon’s defense continued to shut down opponents as the Bearcats beat the Albany Lions 42-7 at Bearcat Field.

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by Evan Ren

BIG COUNTRY PREPS GAME OF THE WEEK: Haskell rallies from two-score deficit in fourth quarter to edge Santo in Big Country classic

Haskell’s Haegen Pinkerton delivers a third-quarter pass in Friday’s 44-42 win at Santo

SANTO — Imagine an early September non-district game that was so intense, so emotional, that there were tears shed by multiple players in its aftermath. 

As multiple Santo players wept following a 44-42 loss to Haskell in the Big Country Preps Game of the Week, a group of jubilant Indians were dumping a cooler of ice water on the head of Haskell coach Creighton Henderson — almost as if their victory had come in Arlington instead of at W.A. Lewis Field. 

But following a game that had produced six lead changes to go with a third-quarter tie, the emotional scene seemed to fit the circumstances, though nothing was really gained or lost prior to the onset of district play. 

Haskell’s Haegen Pinkerton, who has already won the Big Country Preps Player of the Week award twice this season, again put in a huge performance with 217 yards rushing, 157 yards passing and a direct hand in five touchdowns to lead Haskell (2-1) which entered Friday’s game with a slight chip on its shoulder. 

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Wilson, defense power Early to shutout win over Ballinger on homecoming

EARLY — Ballinger head coach Bryan Gayoso and Early head coach Marvin Wilson have been friends for as long as they can remember and have even spent time working on the same coaching staffs as each other.

Friday night at Longhorn Stadium, the two faced off against each other as head coaches for the first time.

By the time the dust settled on the Longhorns’ homecoming, Early had laid claim to a 34-0 win and improved to 3-0 for the first time in five years while the Bearcats fell to 2-1.

Both coaches relished the opportunity to match wits with one another.

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by Daniel Youngblood

FEATURE: Veteran Abilene High linebacking corps a driving force behind early defensive success

Starting the year with six new starters on defense, Abilene High coach Mike Fullen knew there’d be a learning curve for that unit.

But with three of the five returners in his signature 3-4 scheme being senior linebackers, the coach also knew his defense was starting its building process on a strong foundation.

In inside linebackers Skyler Faimoa and Symmani Strahan and outside backer Levon Koonce, the Eagles have a trio of veteran playmakers with an abundance of varsity experience and a track record of production in the AHS scheme. Add in junior outside backer Jud Williamson, the son of defensive coordinator James Williamson, and you have one of the better linebacking corps in West Texas.

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by Evan Ren

BIG COUNTRY PREPS GAME OF THE WEEK: Unbeaten Santo to face one of the area’s top weapons (w/ Evan Ren’s Big Country picks)

LAST WEEK: 55-15, .785
SEASON TOTAL: 110-34, .763

Out Big Country Preps Game of the Week pairs what might be the area’s most improved team (Santo, 2-0) against one its top offensive weapons in Haskell QB Haegen Pinkerton, who with 544 yards rushing and 434 yards passing, has already won our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award twice this season. 

The Indians are a modest 1-1 on the year, but have already put up 124 points with Pinkerton accounting for 978 yards in total offense. Nonetheless, Santo has allowed just 13 total points in wins over Chilton and Dublin, and if they get their flexbone offense rolling, can effectively keep Pinkerton and company off of the field. 

That, will be the key element in keeping the Indians at bay, but Pinkerton will get his share of big plays. 
Regardless, the Wildcats will get the higher number of defensive stops and improve to 3-0. 

PICK: Santo by 10

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by Mike Lee, Special to Big Country Preps

MIKE LEE’S WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Rigdon still making plays in college for Arizona State

NOTE: If you know of a former Big Country Prep athlete now performing in college or professional sports, contact Mike Lee at michaellee7@att.net. 

Rigdon accepts his Offensive MVP trophy following Benjamin’s 2022 victory over Loraine for the 1A DII state title.

Grayson Rigdon is listed as the No. 3 running back on the Arizona State football depth chart, but the former Strawn-Benjamin High School player scored two long-distance touchdowns in the Sun Devils’ 70-7 season-opening win over Morgan State last Saturday.

The 5-foot-11 sophomore scored on receptions of 54 and 56 yards. On both touchdowns, quarterback Cutter Boley threw to Rigdon coming out of the backfield, and he used his running skills to turn the short receptions into long touchdowns.

Rigdon’s first touchdown extended ASU’s lead to 35-7 early in the second quarter. His second score made it 56-7 early in the third quarter.

In addition to the two receptions for 110 yards, Rigdon finished Saturday’s game with four carries for 22 yards rushing and one kickoff return for 18 yards.

The Sun Devils play at No. 10-ranked Texas A&M at 11 a.m. Saturday on ABC-TV.

As an ASU freshman last season, Rigdon played on special teams in six games. He also had two carries and one reception in the Sun Devils’ Sun Bowl loss to Duke.

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME STORY: Abilene High volleyball struggles to find rhythm in home loss to Midland Lee

With two weeks to go before the start of District 4-5A play, the Abilene High volleyball team hosted an old Little Southwest Conference rival Tuesday, falling to the MIdland Lee Lady Rebels 25-22, 25-5, 25-15 at Eagle Gym.

The Lady Eagles dug out of an early hole to take a 22-20 lead in the opening game, but a 5-0 Lee run out of a timeout sent the momentum to the visitors side and it never shifted back in a tough match for the home team.

The loss dropped AHS to 15-13 on the year with three nondistrict matches to play before it opens its league schedule with a home match against Wichita Falls Memorial on Sept. 22.

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by Daniel Youngblood

SIX-MAN REWIND: Water Valley-Rankin, Strawn-May headline wild week of action

Week 2 is in the books, and what a week it was for area six-man football. With a thrilling win by Water Valley over top-ranked Rankin and a two-point Strawn victory over May serving as co-main events, the week’s slate more than delivered on what was promised going in.

It’s time now to take a closer look at the six-man landscape, with a focus on the biggest developments and most outstanding individual performances seen last week.

We hope you enjoy this look back in our weekly  “Big Country Rewind” column and encourage you to check out our Six-Man/Class 1A Central page when you’ve finished reading for more information on your favorite team(s).

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by Evan Ren

BIG COUNTRY PREPS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Pinkerton takes his second award in as many weeks

We prefer to not have the same athlete win our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award in successive weeks, given that it is our aim to share the love. But every now and then, the numbers simply make that impossible. 

So here we have it: Haskell’s Haegen Pinkerton has won our accolade twice in as many weeks, and deservedly so after leading the Indians to a 62-44 win at Bangs on Friday. 

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by Daniel Youngblood

DISTRICT 2-5A DII WEEK 2 REPORT: Wylie blasts Monterey, Cooper falls to AHS as district goes 4-3

Photos by Susanna Jackson, HubCityPreps.com

Wylie 49, Lubbock Monterey 3 — Jadin Karleskint passed for 252 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Bulldogs to a runaway win over the Plainsmen.

Blaze Ruffin (4-124, 3 TDs) and Jackston Williams (4-108, 1 TD) both eclipsed the 100-yard receiving mark in the win, which saw the Bulldogs explode for 42 unanswered points in the first half.

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by Daniel Youngblood

DISTRICT 2-5A DI WEEK 2 REPORT: Abilene High, Tascosa gut out wins as league struggles to 2-6 record

Abilene High 14, Cooper 6 — Tristan Beal hit John Rangel with a pair of touchdown passes, and that was all the offense the Eagles needed to claim their fifth straight Crosstown Showdown win thanks to an opportunistic performance by the AHS defense.

Cooper outgained Abilene High 338-226, but the Eagles came up with a big turnover on downs in their own territory in the first half and forced and recovered a pair of fumbles in the second to make a 14-0 third-quarter lead hold up.

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by Daniel Youngblood

DISTRICT 8-2A DII WEEK 2 REPORT: Santo continues hot start to season as rest of league goes 3-3

rioSanto 61, Dublin 0 — Jackson McKinnerney ran for 125 yards and two touchdowns and added a 22-yard scoring catch, while Rylan Griffith passed for 59 yards and two scores to help the Wildcats run away from the Lions.

Santo outgained Dublin 405-60, holding the Lions to minus-2 rushing yards on 18 attempts. The Wildcats picked off five passes and forced seven total turnovers in the win.

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by Daniel Youngblood

DISTRICT 7-2A DI WEEK 2 REPORT: San Saba, Coleman, Mason pick up wins as league goes 3-3

San Saba 34, Eastland 19 — Enrique Mendoza ran for 182 yards and two touchdowns to lead a 438-yard rushing effort for the Armadillos in a two-touchdown win.

Jason Everett added 167 yards and two TDs of his own to help San Saba, which finished with 460 total yards in the win.

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by Daniel Youngblood

DISTRICT 4-2A DI WEEK 2 REPORT: Ballinger, Forsan and C-City all victorious in 4-3 week for league

Ballinger 27, Odessa Compass 20 — Brody Wilde had an 89-yard kickoff return touchdown and a 70-yard pick-six to go with 40 yards rushing and 26 yards receiving to power the Bearcats to a hard-fought win over the Cougars.e

Wyatt Clemens added 165 yards and two touchdowns passing, and Hunter Kresta received for 91 yards and a TD as Ballinger made a 21-14 halftime lead hold up in the final two quarters for its second straight win to start the season.

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by Daniel Youngblood

DISTRICT 5-3A DII WEEK 2 REPORT: Area teams go 0-5 as district drops all but two games

Cisco 38, Comanche 6 — Colby McIlroy passed for 200 yards and two touchdowns and added another score on the ground to fuel the Loboes to a lopsided win over the Indians.

Landry Vosburg added 102 yards and one TD rushing, and Cannon Harris had 84 yards and two TDs receiving to help Cisco, which led 24-6 by halftime.

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